"CU Boulder and its Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics are proud to host a broad swath of representatives this week from across academia, government, and industry in a discussion of Mars surface exploration technologies," Bobby Braun, dean of the College of Engineering & Applied Science at CU Boulder, told Ars Technica.

"As the nation's hub for aerospace innovation, hosting meetings with an industry partner like SpaceX is part of what we do."

The website reported attendees were asked to keep the gathering quiet and to not leak details of it to the media. According to the website, however, around 60 scientists and engineers are there.

Likely on the docket, Ars Technica reported, are details such as how SpaceX would launch humans to Mars and what they would do once they arrive on the Red Planet.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk is striving to put humans on Mars via the Big Falcon Rocket and spaceship, which are currently in development. He has pledged to send the ship to Mars by 2022.